In general, a wearer grips the heel counter of the shoe with his or her fingers or uses a shoehorn or other tools to prevent the shoe from bending wearing the shoes, such as low shoes and athletic shoes. However, in the case of the shoehorn, there are inconveniences because the wearer has to always carry the shoehorn, and the wearer may lose it. shoehorn.
In the meantime, in the case that the wearer puts on the shoes without using the auxiliary means, such as the shoehorn, the heel counter of the shoe gets in contact with the heel of the wearer's foot or the heel counter part of the upper of the shoe is bent permanently or worn down, and hence, it causes a deterioration in appearance and a reduction of life. Accordingly, new means are needed for allowing the wearer to wear the shoes without the auxiliary means, such as the shoehorn, and for solving the bending problem in the heel counter of the upper.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the inventor of the present invention has invented a heel counter support for a shoe and filed to the KIPO (Korean Patent Application No. 10-2009-0009431).
Korean Patent Application No. 10-2009-0009431 discloses a heel counter support for a shoe, which is embedded in the heel counter of the upper of the shoe. The heel counter support for the shoe according to the prior art is made of one selected from spring steel, shape-memory alloy, and synthetic resin, and includes: a holding portion that is formed in the same arc as the heel counter of the shoe and is positioned at the upper part of the heel counter of the shoe; tension-maintaining portions that are bent in such a way as to be forwardly sloped at both ends of the holding portion; and a support portion that is backwardly bent at the lower ends of the tension maintaining portions in such a way as to be positioned at the upper part of the outsole of the shoe.
Alternatively, the heel counter support for the shoe according to the prior art is made of one selected from spring steel, shape-memory alloy, and synthetic resin, and includes: a holding portion and is positioned at the upper part of the heel counter of the shoe; tension-maintaining portions that are formed in the same arc as the heel counter of the shoe as being viewed from the plane and are bent in such a way as to be downwardly sloped at both top dead centers located inside the upper end portion of the heel counter; and a support member embedded in the lower end portion of the heel counter in such a fashion that both lower end portions of the tension-maintaining portion are joined together.